Denmark To Slash Car Taxes From 180% To 100%

Cars are set to become much cheaper in Denmark under a proposal to slash registration duties across the country.

Currently, the vehicle tax rate sits up to 180 per cent, making Denmark one of the most expensive places to purchase a car. However, under government proposals revealed earlier in the week, the tax rate could be slashed to 100 per cent.

While the plan still needs to be approved by parliament, vehicles will become much more affordable if the tax change is approved.

According to figures compiled by the government, the price of a VW Golf hatchback could fall by around 7 per cent and as much as 12.1 per cent ($8,900) could be sliced off the starting price of a Passat. Even with these savings, Denmark will still be much more expensive than most other European countries.

During a press conference in Copenhagen, economy minister Simon Emil Ammitzboll told Bloomberg “We will still have some of the highest car prices. [It’s] not fair that we, living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, are driving worse cars than our neighbors in Sweden and Germany.”

Vehicle import duties were first raised across Denmark at the start of the 20th century and increased after World War II and the 1970s oil crisis.